Getting Back Into the Groove

I am about finished with my first month of riding after taking around 8 months off completely. My legs are coming around slowly and I still need to shed about 10 lbs of flab off my body. Most group rides I have had a hard time keeping up the entire ride, most everyone is in pretty good shape after cross season and my top end just isn't there. I have decided on a few races this year and I think my focus will be on longer races. I am planning on doing the 6 hour solo at the Bonebender this will mainly be a training race for me, I plan on just surviving it at this point. My first real challenge will be at the Ouachita Challenge 60 mile race through the Arkansas Ozarks. I sumbitted my entry for the Leadville 100 I think I am crazy for entering this event but this will be a huge challenge that will pretty much cap off my season, my team mate Chris Locke signed up with me, hopefully (or maybe not!) we get drawn in. For the next month I hope to up the volume gradually and try to keep from back to back hard rides, which has been a challenge unless I ride by myself.

first post of the new year

First off, Jack is doing fantastic - he is vibrant and healthy and has put some weight on those sagging bones. Now that he is feeling better, we are really starting to see Jack's personality- and he has a lot of it! He is a pretty funny character. In other feline news, I coaxed an abandoned kitten out of the woods of a state park a couple weeks ago. She is super sweet and adorable. She is currently staying with R's sister, who also has 2 other kittens for Tiger to play with, because of Jack's distemper and the contamination of the house. After her 2nd round of vaccinations, we plan on brining her home and testing her out with Jack, who is very needy for attention and would probably do well with a rambunctious friend.

Tiger en route to his new temporary home










Secondly, the weather here has been atrocious, so I haven't ventured out as much as I'd hoped. But I did swing by Eagle Bluffs CA on Tuesday where I picked up 4 Savanna and 1 Vesper Sparrows! Plus a few others for my Jan list.

The last couple days have been a whirlwind. I went to St Louis with my boss for my 1st professional meeting with project collaborators. It was quite the learning experience. I met people I only knew through e-mails, so I got to do some networking. Our efforts are to provide a recommended point count protocol and to get multiple state and federal agencies to adopt it - not an easy task!

In other news, I am officially off to Austin for Golden-cheeked Warbler monitoring in March. I'll only be there through early May becuase I am headlining the woodland restoration project here in MO starting in mid-May.

Adios for now!